Chapter Summaries

Altair tried to seize the Kaleidoscope Mirror and keep the Star Grail’s power for herself, drawing Alice, Blitz, and Seele into battle. On the ground, Baxiu fought Demon Lord Oppai to stop him from claiming the Star Grail, and their clash escalated into an evenly matched duel.

• Altair declared that everyone could use the Ideal World to fulfill wishes, but insisted that the Star Grail and its Recognition Power belonged to her alone.
• Alice, Blitz, and Karon attacked Altair to stop her from reaching the Kaleidoscope Mirror, while Iori assured Meteora that he would not harm the world or its people.
• Blitz trapped Altair in a gravitational field, but she broke free with her Blade Wheels and repelled Alice and Seele’s attacks with her saber and defenses.
• Demon Lord Oppai charged toward the Star Grail, but Baxiu blocked him, citing his alliance with Alicetelia and refusing to let Oppai waste its power.
• Baxiu and Demon Lord Oppai exchanged powerful attacks, with Baxiu’s battle aura surging as the Demon Lord welcomed the prospect of an evenly matched fight.

Baxiu rallied his fellow fans to overpower the Demon King, while Altair reached the mirror and found Shizuna’s fading soul. Iori explained that Altair’s existence prevented Shizuna’s return, leaving Altair to consider erasing herself to save her creator.

• Baxiu drew strength from his anger and lust, summoned an army of light, and battered the Demon King until the fight’s outcome remained uncertain.
• Altair broke through Seele, Alice, Blitz, and Al’s encirclement and used her weapon to distort the kaleidoscopic mirror, entering a space where Shizuna appeared as an illusion.
• Altair tried to touch Shizuna, then demanded that Iori explain why she had not awakened; Iori said Altair’s karma bound Shizuna and that her creator could not truly return while Altair existed.
• Altair repeatedly used her karma-manipulating abilities to restore Shizuna, but the attempts failed as Shizuna’s image faded.
• Iori stopped Altair from exhausting Shizuna’s soul fragment and told her there was a way to save Shizuna; Altair realized that erasing herself might undo the karmic obstacle.

Altair tried to save Shizuna by playing her a final song, but Iori stabbed her and revealed that he had engineered her despair to harvest Recognition Power and Presence Power. Altair confronted Iori with the Power of All Creation as he prepared to fight her and make humanity remember him as a nightmare.

• Altair played a violin for the sleeping Shizuna, intending to sacrifice herself to save her.
• Shizuna appeared before Altair, but Iori stabbed Altair from behind and made Shizuna vanish.
• Iori explained that he had manipulated Altair into hating and despairing of humanity so he could gain power from her emotions.
• Altair questioned why Iori had caused her pain, and he said he had done it for fun.
• Altair summoned countless military sabers, while Iori raised his Zanpakuto and a platinum blade imbued with the Steel God's aura.

After Iori and Altair’s battle, the collapsing inner world expelled Meteora and the other summoned characters. Altair awoke with Shizuna alive beside her, and Iori explained the staged story meant to give them a happy ending, though Altair recognized that the planned conclusion portrayed her as sacrificing herself.

• Meteora told Alice and the others that the Star Cup had been consumed and that Altair was the only one who could still fulfill a wish.
• Iori’s betrayal and the revelations about the characters’ origins confused everyone as their world began to collapse from the loss of Recognition Power.
• Meteora tried to teleport the others away, but the world’s magical force expelled them into reality as the abandoned city crumbled.
• Altair awoke in a starry realm beside Shizuna and realized that Shizuna was alive and physically present.
• Iori told Altair that the outside world was broadcasting a prepared story in which he became the evil god and Altair defeated him with the characters’ help.
• Altair understood that the planned story ended with her apparent sacrifice and Shizuna revived as the author who recorded their story.

Iori offered Shizuna Shimazaki and Altair a future together in the fictional worlds, then helped Shizuna face the people from her past. The chapter ended with Iori and Meteora considering the remaining troublemakers and conflicts after the war.

• Shizuna awoke beneath the stars, and Altair embraced her and thanked her for bringing her into the world.
• Iori gave Shizuna and Altair two choices, and they chose a life together exploring fictional worlds.
• Iori and Meteora delivered Shizuna’s letter to her parents, while Shizuna separately met Souta Mizushino and let go of her resentment toward him.
• Shizuna decided to explain everything to her parents in person and went home to see them.
• Iori and Meteora discussed the work still ahead, noting that the war had ended but conflicts and troublesome people remained.

After the characters prepared to return to their worlds, Iori revealed that he would travel between dimensions to repair tragedies, then used a new Random Dimensional Gate to visit another world. He arrived in Heroic Age, found himself unable to interfere while unanchored, and saw a world devastated by endless war.

• Iori and Meteora discussed how the World's Correction Force was erasing the characters’ powers, and Iori admitted he was a visitor from another world.
• The characters negotiated with their creators before departure, while Diao changed her mind about staying after learning she would have to work for a living.
• Iori promised the characters that they could call on him through the Singularity F project, which would let him create IF storylines and help repair tragedies.
• Iori received a Random Dimensional Gate with three uses and chose keywords to seek a world with higher-realm power, manageable strength, and possibility.
• Iori arrived in a desolate land, sensed a curious presence watching him, and discovered that the destination was Heroic Age.
• Iori switched away from Heroic Age and entered a world whose races had been trapped in a destructive war for the throne of the Sole God.

After surveying Heroic Age, Game Life, and Hakoniwa, Iori set the dangerous worlds aside and rested in the Third Division barracks, where a dream of the Soul King and Yhwach disturbed him. He reflected on how he had obtained the Soul King's Right Eye and returned to Bleach, ready to resume his captain's duties.

• Iori recognized the lifeless world as Game Life and then identified the vast domed city and world-supporting pillar as Hakoniwa, before withdrawing from both worlds.
• Iori judged Heroic Age, Game Life, and Hakoniwa too dangerous to explore for now and decided to rest in the Third Division barracks.
• During meditation, Iori dreamed of a figure who called him a child and spoke of Yhwach reclaiming the world, then woke and dismissed the dream.
• Iori recalled that he had obtained the Spirit King's Right Eye in a Side Story and explained how his promise to Bleach characters had helped him bring it back.
• Iori reviewed the sealed eye's ability to perceive the past and true names of beings beneath the Soul King, then left the barracks and welcomed his return to Bleach.

Iori visited Yamamoto, thanked him for resolving Saito’s situation, and played shogi with him, using AI until he remembered he had left his helmet behind. After Yamamoto won by a narrow margin, Iori confirmed his relationship with Saitō Fuyōfushi, and Yamamoto reflected that female captains of his generation had all remained single.

• Iori sensed the Soul King's intensified gaze and wondered whether the Soul King was urging him to visit the Soul King Palace.
• Iori accepted Kyoraku Juro’s report on the Hueco Mundo suppression campaign and took it to Yamamoto.
• Iori thanked Yamamoto for arranging Saito’s exile to the World of the Living, then played shogi with him and ultimately lost.
• Iori confirmed that he and Saitō Fuyōfushi had become a couple, and Yamamoto reacted with surprise.
• Yamamoto explained that some male captains had married, but every female captain of his generation had remained single.

Iori warned Yamamoto that Quincy traces had appeared in Seireitei, while Yhwach prepared the Sternritter for a future war and identified Iori as a person of interest. The chapter then revealed that 12th Division researcher Sheng Sheng Lan Dao had survived a past experiment and was fighting an enemy as a mutated form of life.

• Iori told Yamamoto that traces of Reishi aggregation suggested Quincy had been active in Seireitei, and Yamamoto authorized a search across the divisions.
• Yhwach reviewed Haschwalth's intelligence, ordered the Sternritter to prepare new powers, and forbade an attack until he had recovered.
• Haschwalth named Iori Aizen as Seireitei's most noteworthy figure, and Yhwach expressed interest in him.
• Sheng Sheng Lan Dao fought while badly wounded, using a Flesh-Replenishing Agent to stay alive and refusing to surrender.
• Lan Dao's past was revealed: she had survived the Seireitei Research Institute Explosion Incident, assumed a new identity, and secretly investigated mutated Reishi that had created new humans.

Lan Dao fought the Quincy to protect the Bount and learned they had engineered the explosion that created them, intending to exploit the Bount’s spirit-particle abilities. Hikifune Kirio and Saitō Fuyōfushi arrived to rescue her, but Lan Dao suspected Hikifune had been tracking her and planned to use her to find the Bount.

• Lan Dao defended the fleeing Bount from Quincy attackers, who killed two of them and tried to break her resolve.
• The Quincy leader explained that the Bount could enhance Quincy Reishi aggregation and revealed that Yhwach had ordered the Quincy to secure them.
• The Quincy leader told Lan Dao that Quincy interference had caused the explosion that created the Bount.
• An unseen force shattered a Quincy, and Saitō Fuyōfushi and Hikifune Kirio appeared beside Lan Dao.
• Hikifune said she had come to save Lan Dao and settle accounts with the Quincy, while Lan Dao suspected she had long known Lan Dao’s identity and wanted to locate the Bount.

Saito and Hikifune Kirio rescued the gravely wounded Lan Dao from a Quincy capture attempt and fought the Quincy attackers. Saito defeated the female Quincy Martha after revealing the power of her eyepatch, while Hikifune Kirio also finished her fight.

• Saito and Hikifune Kirio confronted the Quincy leader, who tried to seize Lan Dao before Hikifune drove him back.
• Hikifune Kirio blocked a hidden arrow aimed at Lan Dao, and Saito placed Kidō [Kyōmon] around her for protection.
• A female Quincy attacked Saito, while Hikifune Kirio fought the other Quincy and overwhelmed them.
• Saito removed her eyepatch and used powerful Kidō to defeat and incapacitate Martha.
• Hikifune Kirio watched Saito celebrate her victory and remarked that Saito had a girlish side.

Yhwach learned that the Seireitei had discovered the Quincy and planned to use its response to create an opening for an invasion, while privately reflecting on his new human condition and his possession of the Spirit King's Left Hand. At a captains’ meeting, Yamamoto began selecting teams to search for Quincy in the World of the Living, and Iori found himself recommended for the mission.

• Haschwalth reported that the Bount capture operation had failed, and Yhwach told him to focus on the Perfected State while distributing Bount-made bows to pure-blooded Quincy.
• Haschwalth warned that the Seireitei was stronger than a thousand years earlier, but Yhwach planned to draw its forces out and exploit the resulting gaps.
• Yhwach described his new mortal sensations to Haschwalth, who wondered how Yhwach had controlled the Spirit King's Left Hand and feared what Yhwach had become.
• Yhwach privately believed the Soul King had withdrawn his will from the Left Hand because he expected Yhwach to break the deadlock between the three realms.
• Iori noticed that people greeted him with unusual admiration before attending Yamamoto's meeting about the Bount and Quincy discoveries.
• Yamamoto proposed sending two captains and their lieutenants to search the World of the Living with Hikifune Kirio and Saitō Fuyōfushi, and the captains recommended Iori.

Iori learned that a rumor had made him the focus of attention, while Yuki refused to explain it and struggled to hide how his teasing affected her. After leading reinforcements to the World of the Living to investigate the Quincy, Iori proposed transferring Kurotsuchi Mayuri to Hikifune Kirio’s 12th Division.

• Iori asked Yuki why everyone had been looking at him strangely, but she told him he would find out after going to the World of the Living.
• Iori flirted with Yuki and described her personality, leaving her flustered; Yachiru caught her blushing and accepted konpeitō in exchange for saying she had seen nothing.
• Iori suspected the Soul King was pushing events forward and led Soujun and elite Bleach reinforcements to the World of the Living.
• Hikifune Kirio explained that the Quincy prisoners’ memories were difficult to read, and Iori said he had brought Kurotsuchi Mayuri to help.
• Iori offered to help Hikifune obtain a Knot for Hiyori and suggested transferring Kurotsuchi Mayuri to the 12th Division.

Hikifune Kirio hid from Saitō Fuyōfushi after leaking private information, but found Saitō had become unnervingly calm and gracious. The chapter revealed that Saitō’s anger and embarrassment had been burned away, while her private conversation with Iori left her insisting she would accept a breakup rather than face public ridicule.

• Iori offered Hikifune Kirio a share in Knots production and management, prompting her to joke that he might like her and tease Saito about her feelings for him.
• Hikifune Kirio hid with Kuchiki Sōjun to avoid Saitō Fuyōfushi’s anger, then agreed to apologize after he urged her to face the consequences of spreading the private gossip.
• Hikifune Kirio and Kuchiki Sōjun visited Saito, who accepted the apology gently and advised her not to behave so frivolously again.
• After leaving, Hikifune Kirio and Kuchiki Sōjun wondered whether Aizen had somehow changed Saito, while the narration explained that she was simply too exhausted to feel anger or embarrassment.
• Saito told Iori she would accept a clean breakup rather than endure people mocking her for being sentimental, then insisted she had never planned to marry him.

Saito Fuyōfushi and Iori grew closer while the investigation into the Quincy continued, and Kuchiki Sōjun explained Soul Society’s eastern and western divisions and the history of the Quincy. The chapter ended as white-clad Quincy appeared across Soul Society, attacked its inhabitants, and converged on a target.

• Iori pulled Saito Fuyōfushi into a sealed room, and she later woke beside him, embarrassed by what had happened.
• Kuchiki Mayuri and Hikifune Kirio extracted information from the captive Quincy, who said they had been ordered to hunt Bounts by the Sternritter and a higher authority.
• Kuchiki Sōjun told Iori that Soul Society was divided into eastern and western branches and suggested the Quincy might be hiding in Hueco Mundo.
• Iori contacted Akame in Soul Society to check on Granny and Nemu and prepared for the possibility that Yhwach was making a move.
• White-clad Quincy appeared across Soul Society, attacked powerful souls, captured several districts, and began converging on an unknown target.

Shiba Hayato fought off a Quincy invasion, but a Sternritter used a Star Seal to steal his Bankai and nearly defeated him. Hayato reclaimed his power with the Shiba Clan’s self-destructive secret art, killed the invading Quincies, and then faced the young Yhwach.

• Shiba Hayato attacked the high-ranking Quincy with Moon-Gazing Sky Charge after discovering the invaders had come for the Shiba Clan’s secret arts and family.
• The Quincy activated a Star Seal that stole Hayato’s Bankai and used the stolen Moon-Gazing Sky Charge to overwhelm him.
• Hayato unleashed the Shiba Clan secret art, broke the Star Seal’s control, and restored his Bankai at the cost of burning away his power.
• Hayato killed the Quincy leader, Lord Bazart, and annihilated the rest of the invading force before setting out to find his family and warn the Seireitei, Isshin, and Kaien.
• Young Yhwach appeared behind Hayato, recognized the nature of his transformation, and left Hayato wondering whether he was another Holy Son.

Yhwach attacked the Shiba clan and fought Shiba Hayato, who unleashed a forbidden technique before his fate became unknown. As Captain Aizen and his allies learned of the attack while fighting Quincy in the World of the Living, they prepared to return to the Seireitei, suspecting Yhwach might ambush them in the Dangai.

• Yhwach revealed his identity to Shiba Hayato and overwhelmed him with his immense reiatsu.
• Shiba Hayato fought back with his final crescent attack, but Yhwach blocked it and Hayato’s reiatsu vanished after he used a forbidden technique.
• Kuchiki Ginrei sensed Hayato’s reiatsu disappear and ordered his clan, Sixth Division personnel, and covert operatives to search for and protect the Shiba clan.
• In Edo Castle, Iori and Kuchiki Sōjun’s forces defeated Quincy soldiers at a hidden base.
• A Hell Butterfly reported that the Shiba Residence had been destroyed and Shiba Hayato was missing, leading Iori and Sōjun to conclude that Yhwach had returned.
• Iori, Sōjun, Saito, and Hikifune assembled their forces to return to the Seireitei, while Iori suspected Yhwach would ambush them in the Dangai.

Iori destroyed the Gokō when it appeared in the Dangai, then led the group onward despite a Senkaimon misdirecting them to a remote district of Soul Society. Kurotsuchi Mayuri suspected the Quincy had engineered the diversion and warned that someone in the 12th Division might be helping them.

• The Gokō appeared in the Dangai, and Iori shattered it with his outstretched hand as Saitō Fuyōfushi watched in shock.
• Iori told the group the Gokō had been a Quincy smokescreen, then reassured Saitō that his words to her had been sincere.
• The group emerged from the Senkaimon in a remote district rather than the Seireitei and realized their route had been disrupted.
• Kurotsuchi Mayuri reasoned that the Quincy had lured the Captains away to delay their return and suggested the Seireitei might already be in ruins.
• Kurotsuchi proposed that a traitor in the 12th Division had helped the Quincy by accessing information about the Dangai, Senkaimon, and Bount, but Hikifune Kirio rejected the accusation.

Saito Fuyōfushi and Iori faced a blood-wielding Reigai posing as Unohana Retsu, who trapped them in her Bankai domain. As Saito fought her to a stalemate, Iori recognized the enemy as part of a forbidden Reigai army threatening the Seireitei.

• Unohana appeared alone and urged Iori to return to the Seireitei, but Saito attacked her after sensing hostile intent.
• The impostor revealed her Bankai, Kyōka Suigetsu, engulfing the group in a blood pool where every drop could attack.
• Saito declared the woman was not the real Unohana and fought her while warning the others not to enter the blood pool.
• Hikifune Kirio and Kuchiki Sōjun realized that the domain made numbers ineffective, while Iori identified the enemy as a Reigai.
• Iori recalled that a forbidden Reigai army had once rebelled and concluded that its creator must have escaped confinement.
• Saito and the Reigai Unohana continued their evenly matched sword fight, and Saito taunted her about becoming faster.

Unohana Yachiru’s Reigai battled Saitō Fuyōfushi in a blood-pool domain until Iori intervened and defeated her, then Iori’s group continued toward the Seireitei. Meanwhile, a Sternritter prepared roughly a thousand Quincies to ambush the advancing force, confident their badges could steal the Captains’ Bankai.

• Saitō Fuyōfushi fought Unohana Yachiru’s Reigai inside her blood-pool domain, trading rapid sword strikes and taunting her as the battle intensified.
• Unohana healed herself with the blood pool, but Saitō gained the upper hand and declared herself Kenpachi before the fight was finished.
• Iori intervened to end the Reigai, caught the bead that held her true body, and watched the blood-pool domain dissolve.
• Iori sent Saitō ahead as a vanguard while Hikifune and Soujun led the main force toward the Seireitei.
• A Sternritter gathered roughly a thousand Quincies on a remote path and ordered them to ambush the approaching force, trusting Yhwach’s badges to steal Bankai.